Hess shuts Gulf production following Enchilada fire

Hess has shut in production at its Baldpate, Conger and Penn State fields in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in response to the fire that occurred last week at the Shell-operated Enchilada platform.

The Llano field. Source: Hess

Production is also shut in at the Shell-operated Llano field, in which Hess holds a 50% interest, Hess said in a 13 November press statement. Hess production at these fields is approximately 30,000 boe/d. Hess shut in the fields after Enbridge, which owns the Garden Banks Gas Pipeline system -- to which the Baldpate and Enchilada platforms are connected -- shut in production until further notice due to the fire.

Shell reported on Sunday (12 November) that it was developing a plan to repair the damaged portions of the Enchilada asset and was redeploying personnel. There is no timeline to resume normal operations, the company said in a statement.

An assessment team on 11 November confirmed isolation of the platform from the 30-inch gas export pipeline and no presence of uncontained hydrocarbons.

Shell and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are investigating the cause of the incident. More than 70 people from Shell and the United States Coast Guard worked together to safely respond to this incident. Throughout the response, Shell said it did not observe any signs of oil on the water associated with this incident.